How fast can MBU grows?

[kevinfleming21]

mine has been gorwing on and off @ about .5-1 inch per month. It will slow down significantly later though.

 

[Fat Homer]

I have a 5 inch mbu in a 180g there's is 7 rainbows ,4 torpedo barbs and 6 scissor fish that should not be to much bio load hey? i plan on getting more fish in there too. if i do 50% water changes our more a week bio load should be fine right

Might be okay for now? but in the long run you can expect to need a lot more filtration, or larger / more water changes...

I mean honestly, even i change about 50% water a week min on my 200G for my fahaka and it ain't even over-stocked...

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

just wandering how fast do they grow?does anyone have any experiences with their grow rate? also, how much do you think can they eat in a day?

cheers

I've owned several MBU's, the 12" I got was probably around 10" when I got him and when I sold him, he was just a tad over 12" and he was in my 180 the entire time eating frozen shrimp and crawdads. He was healthy, growth rate was good and was a calm/active puffer. Then I got another MBU at 21-22", he is also in a 180 gallon tank by himself. He is now 23" and had him for almost a year. He eats a ton of shrimp, up to 15 pieces at a time. The appetite will be different for any fish, you just need to experience with your MBU then you will have your answer, the same thing for his growth rate, its different for every fish. There isn’t any fish alike that have the same exact growth rate, they are all different.

If you don’t have a large tank yet, that’s fine. My 180 is 24" wide, the MBU is 23" but nothing is wrong with him. It’s going to be a couple years before your MBU is this size anyways. It’s not going to be stunted or die. Your MBU has plenty of room to grow for a long time.

Everyone on here will say something different, there are only a few MBU owners on here that will actually have any personal knowledge on it whatsoever besides other members reading stuff on other sites. You can’t always go by what other people say. I’m not saying a 1000 gallon tank is not good enough for a fish, the bigger the better for the most part. I had plans for my MBU to be in a wider tank but till I find a tank wider than 24" he will stay in there. It may be today or next year till I get one. If you ever notice, at least with my MBU, when he turns around, he always curls his tail inward to turn around, he did the same exact thing when I had him a 300 gallon holding tank till I got my tank setup. Even if he didn’t, just his long tail touching the side of the tank will not cause him any harm, it’s a smooth surface so the fins won’t get torn up. He was in the 300 for 2 months almost and each time I fed him, when he turned around, even thou the tank was 36" wide, he still curled his tail inward, the tighter he curled his tail inward the faster he could turn around to get the food.

I know people here don’t agree with my MBU in the 180 but I could care less. He is healthy, personable, lets you pet him, feeds out of your hand, calm, enjoy watching him swim and chew on rock to keep his dentures in check and when you put your face next to him he comes right up to you. He is alone, can’t hurt any fish, have good filtration for him, water changes are minimal and just a great fish to have overall. Probably 80% of people here have fish that simply get larger than any MBU alive but yet have them in small tanks, but when you hop over to that forum, you don’t see the same ole garbage about tank size, bio load, etc.

This is my personal experience with the fish I currently have, not something copied from another site, useless info that is not required to own an MBU, or jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else wants to look like they know what they are talking about.

 

[Andrex]

Dont post saying they need this and that if you have never kept one.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Lets see those puffers in 10 years...

 

[Twicksisted]

you can go anywhere you want reading info about puffer, and thats none of my business. Just because such a site is exist, that doesnt mean everybody has to look at it, and it doesnt even proof that anything in there is absolute right. You dont have to go around and tell people to go and look at a site for such information. Did u not understand what I typed above? I am not interested in reading a library. Just because someone provides information in fish keeping, that doesnt mean that everybody has to follow him/her. And people are free to write here and there, as such a question will always come up, if its bother you to answer the question, then dont bother writing it up, its such a waste..

Hey Garniac... is that your MBU in your profile pic? if so it looks pretty cool

I've kept many different species over the last 20+ years and I too know that when you come and post on this site, people tend to jump down your throat regarding tank size, species etc (Usually, I might add, with very limited personal experience about issues that theyve overheard the rest of the gang say over and over again.. to either make themselves sound more intelligent or because they do know and do actually do care.)

Either way, you sound like you want to do the right thing for your fish which is a great start... however, you will need to know everything about that puffer if you want to keep it for life as its not exactly a beginner fish. By beginner fish I do not mean that you are a beginner fishkeeper, I mean that you will need to read up about it and understand it properly to look after it properly and by the sounds of it you do not have that basic information yet.

Generally speaking you can find excellent basic information on various fish species on the web (google). If you use a forum as your sole source of information, you will end up with a variety of different peoples "opinions" and these different people will range from idiots to (sometimes) experts so you can end up with a lot of misinformation.

I wish you good luck with the MBU... they are great fish and when they grow fully become wonderful "monsters" in their own rights.

All the best

 

[GarNiac]

I've owned several MBU's, the 12" I got was probably around 10" when I got him and when I sold him, he was just a tad over 12" and he was in my 180 the entire time eating frozen shrimp and crawdads. He was healthy, growth rate was good and was a calm/active puffer. Then I got another MBU at 21-22", he is also in a 180 gallon tank by himself. He is now 23" and had him for almost a year. He eats a ton of shrimp, up to 15 pieces at a time. The appetite will be different for any fish, you just need to experience with your MBU then you will have your answer, the same thing for his growth rate, its different for every fish. There isn’t any fish alike that have the same exact growth rate, they are all different.

If you don’t have a large tank yet, that’s fine. My 180 is 24" wide, the MBU is 23" but nothing is wrong with him. It’s going to be a couple years before your MBU is this size anyways. It’s not going to be stunted or die. Your MBU has plenty of room to grow for a long time.

Everyone on here will say something different, there are only a few MBU owners on here that will actually have any personal knowledge on it whatsoever besides other members reading stuff on other sites. You can’t always go by what other people say. I’m not saying a 1000 gallon tank is not good enough for a fish, the bigger the better for the most part. I had plans for my MBU to be in a wider tank but till I find a tank wider than 24" he will stay in there. It may be today or next year till I get one. If you ever notice, at least with my MBU, when he turns around, he always curls his tail inward to turn around, he did the same exact thing when I had him a 300 gallon holding tank till I got my tank setup. Even if he didn’t, just his long tail touching the side of the tank will not cause him any harm, it’s a smooth surface so the fins won’t get torn up. He was in the 300 for 2 months almost and each time I fed him, when he turned around, even thou the tank was 36" wide, he still curled his tail inward, the tighter he curled his tail inward the faster he could turn around to get the food.

I know people here don’t agree with my MBU in the 180 but I could care less. He is healthy, personable, lets you pet him, feeds out of your hand, calm, enjoy watching him swim and chew on rock to keep his dentures in check and when you put your face next to him he comes right up to you. He is alone, can’t hurt any fish, have good filtration for him, water changes are minimal and just a great fish to have overall. Probably 80% of people here have fish that simply get larger than any MBU alive but yet have them in small tanks, but when you hop over to that forum, you don’t see the same ole garbage about tank size, bio load, etc.

This is my personal experience with the fish I currently have, not something copied from another site, useless info that is not required to own an MBU, or jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else wants to look like they know what they are talking about.

Hey Garniac... is that your MBU in your profile pic? if so it looks pretty cool

I've kept many different species over the last 20+ years and I too know that when you come and post on this site, people tend to jump down your throat regarding tank size, species etc (Usually, I might add, with very limited personal experience about issues that theyve overheard the rest of the gang say over and over again.. to either make themselves sound more intelligent or because they do know and do actually do care.)

Either way, you sound like you want to do the right thing for your fish which is a great start... however, you will need to know everything about that puffer if you want to keep it for life as its not exactly a beginner fish. By beginner fish I do not mean that you are a beginner fishkeeper, I mean that you will need to read up about it and understand it properly to look after it properly and by the sounds of it you do not have that basic information yet.

Generally speaking you can find excellent basic information on various fish species on the web (google). If you use a forum as your sole source of information, you will end up with a variety of different peoples "opinions" and these different people will range from idiots to (sometimes) experts so you can end up with a lot of misinformation.

I wish you good luck with the MBU... they are great fish and when they grow fully become wonderful "monsters" in their own rights.

All the best

thanks all for the input, and yes its my mbu in my avatar, its just a little bit bigger now,
here I saw a 21" mbu being kept in a 180g as well with no problem so far, and still growing. The person who kept it got the mbu since young, and the tank also got multiple filters running. Mine one is still small, and its currently in a 150g tank, and will be upgraded in the future to a approx 400g, since I haven't really notice significant growth in a month.
MBU indeed a great fish to keep, and I think as long as the fish is healthy in the tank they are kept in, then really, there is no need for further extra needs that we should provide.
cheers